End of Trial Zero
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"El," Ileana said, bursting into tears. She was finally out of the spell, but she remembered what transpired in between when she was charmed.
Elior sighed, walking up to her and hugged her softly. "It's alright," he whispered into her ears. Rubbing her hair softly he said, "You are alright."
Elior could feel Ileana was extremely traumatised by what happened to her. In this four days, she was just like a slave under the spell, and there's no need to mention how something like that damaged a person.
On the contrary, Lara was in better state than Ileana or maybe she was hiding it.
"Elior, what did you do to that guy?" Shin asked. "I don't know what, but it was really cool."
They all come closer to him after the fighting was done. While the other girls that were under control before were still panicked. They are all traumatised and worse, they did not have anyone to reassure them.
"The trial is about to end," Elior said, looking at all of them. "Let's distribute the tokens first."
"Elior, we don't need it," Lyra said. "We already have plenty after we took all from the males."
The twin siblings agreed with that as well, nodded their heads heavily.
The girls under the spell did not have a single token with them, while Renal's underlings—each had a hundred tokens with them.
"Yes, brother, you don't have to give me any," Shin still addressed him as a brother. "Well, even if you give me, this greedy elf would take away everything from me."
Lyra snorted. "I don't need any more, I'm already satisfied with the result."
"Shut up and just take it," Elior handed four bundles of tokens, each holding a hundred to Shin, bringing his ranking within the top 10. Shin was a little embarrassed, but he took it, poking it towards the half-elf. But Lyra was good at her words, she did not take any more.
Elior moved in front of the traumatised females. There were six of them, leaving Lara and Ileana.
"I can give each one of you a bundle. It would be enough for you to pass the trial," he said. "Do you want to be a guardian?"
In the end, these are all teenagers, who only know of the glory of the Guardians, not the struggle behind it. They still stood or sat like stone statues. Some were even crying.
"I can't lie to you," Elior continued. "Being a Guardian is hard. You might face this type of situation more, but you will get a chance to grow as well. And you will live a life not just for yourself but for the entire humanity. Just take it, you can always give up if you want."
Elior gave each of the six girls a bundle of tokens then moved to his two other girls. He still had 13 more bundles of tokens. He did not need all of them to be first, it's better to distribute them to everyone.
"Ileana, do you want to be a guardian?" He asked.
Ileana was still lost. She stopped crying a moment ago, but her expression was still among dark clouds.
"I don't know," she said. "But give me one."
"You can have more," said Elior. He nodded, giving her 4 of them, then moved towards Lara, who was sitting on the ground, and seemed like she was reflecting on her performance.
"You are from the earth as well," Elior said. He need about 6 bundles or less to be the first of the trial so he gave the other three to her. "Here, take it."
Lara shook her head. "Just give me one, I don't deserve more."
"It's good to reflect on your fault, but here it isn't yours. That guy was well above his league to take part in this trial. You could do nothing to stop him."
Lara nodded, though she still looked unconvinced. In the end, she only took one bundle from him.
Elior did not push further. Looking at the rising sun, he muttered, "It's about the time it ends."
[Trial zero will end in two minutes. Advising all the candidates to be prepared. The final evaluation will take place in the summoning room.]
As Elior guessed it, the notification came, announcing the end of the trial.
"So this is goodbye," Lyra said. She was not from Earth, so they would not be able to meet each other.
"Seems so," Shin replied. "I will really miss you, Sister Elf."
"But I will not," Lyra snorted at Shin.
"Still so cold," Shin joked.
Then the final merit list appeared in front of everyone's eye.
[Congratulations to every candidate who passed the Trial. You all will be Guardian Apprentice from now on.]
[Final Merit List:
1. Elior - 1178 tokens.
2. Leroy - 791 tokens.
3. Lyra - 612 Tokens.
4. Chainz- 500 tokens.
5. Unknown - 425 tokens.
6. Ileana - 400 tokens.
. . .
23. Sarrat: 289 tokens.
23. Sarvat - 289 tokens
. . .
177. Scarlett - 100 tokens
177. Mopher - 100 tokens
177. Lara - 100 tokens.]
"Wow, I came in last," Scarlett chuckled.
"But, why do you look so happy being last?" Shin asked, confused.
"Maybe because she is a little crazy in her head," Elior added from the side.
Scarlett snorted at Elior. "Do you think if I tried, you would be able to come first?" she said. "If I wanted, I could win it the very first day, but this trial is below me. It's would only be me bullying the poor contestant if I do that."
"You can try it if you want." Elior put no ear to her words. Even though it was not bragging, especially coming from the Princess herself. "Did not you see what happened to the other guy?"
"Are you challenging me?" Scarlett asked, eyes glued to Elior.
"N,, I'm not. I did not challenge you, and do not want to do anything with you," Elior said, and it was the truth.
"Funny," just as Scarlett said that, her legs moved like a bolt of lightning. The next moment, she appeared just before Elior, only a couple of inches before his face. Scarlett was quite tall for a fifteen years old girl, almost reaching shoulder to shoulder with Elior. She did not do a thing, just stared at him. "Then why do I see fear in your eyes?"
"Fear? You are mistaken," Elior answered with a deadpan expression. "This is the expression I made when I'm annoyed."
"Pfft," Scarlett laughed, removing the eye contact with him. "You are funny."
"I get that a lot."
Scarlet eyed him again, smiling. "See you at the next trial. I won't be lenient then."
"No, I won't see you in the next trial." before Elior could finish his sentence, flickering light emerged from everyone as they teleported from the wilderness of the trial.